This is my take on the game as a merc. This isn't 100% optimized on trap choices, since i like to keep things a bit challenging, run around killing monsters on my own. And most of the levels i completed on the first try, so that contributes on it also, but they seemed to work well enough :)
I've finished the levels with 3 stars. Except the one where boss slipped away because of series of unfortunate events, so i don't consider that as a failure. The tactic worked on that level, no one else got through.

I start grinding for gear when i reach T4 level 11. That's when the difficulty jumps. Look for the tips on that a bit below. Tower choices/placements will still remain the same, so if you want to try it without getting better gear, you can but it's going to be hard, especially on the two last levels. And since no levels aren't really grinded (except the 1,5 levels that came accidentally when i tested my stuff quickly on endless) the towers aren't especially powerful either. I tried to keep this guide as grind free as possible. But the last 3 levels, they require a lot of damage, and godlike items are very easy to get.


Hopefully you will get some help from this. If there's any questions about specific levels etc, i'll answer the best i can.


I was using necropolis T1. Since i could just put on towers, press start and do something else while the level completed itself, it takes about 10-15 minutes on double speed.
Take out the neutral monsters and you get decent amount of gold per completion. Respec to the skill that gives you more items and gold from monster's and voila. I did some general useful stuff while waiting for completion like cleaned out my apartment, pushups, school stuff etc.

Godlike items start appearing at the store above lvl 55, cost like hell, but with the amount of gold you're getting it's not a big thing. There's also another use for the massive gold, buy every other piece of gear than red, they cost too much. Then break them down to get crafting mats for upgrading the godlike.

if you're grinding after completing all the levels, then use Necropolis Tier 4, for much better loot, you can even find a godlike.

Mercenary, being a melee char, excells in physical damage. His tower choices shuold also reflect this. There are skills and a trap that lowers enemies physical resistance so they shuold of course be utilized.

Tier 4 is a bit more complicated, so there's some respeccing on trap points some maps. And one boss got away with one hit from death, so i don't consider that a failure. Since it was just bad luck :( Things change rapidly at the final parts of tier 4. Damage requirements for our merc increases so it's advisable to really invest a bit of time for godlike items.


Gun sentries (Main damage)
Acid Geyser (Poison + physical vulnerability)
Icicle fields (Slow + ice vulnerability)
Frost pillars (Slow + ice damage/freeze)
Spring trap (Good crowd control + fire vulnerability)
Phoenix tower or Lava grill (For those horde's)
Essence traps (rarely used)

Archer (Summon Physical)
Winter Queen's sigil (Summon Ice)
Werewofls (at tier 4)


Gun towers do physical damage, acid geysers lower resistance to it, so combo them.
Same thing with Icicle fields + Frost pillars etc. You will tear down through most of enemies with ease. Just keep in mind that Guns are capable of AoE (combine this with slow to group up the enemies and deal damage to everyone! while they're under massive physical vulnerability), Frost pillars aren't.

Fire is the element that i use pretty rarely. Mainly because physical is my main damage that skills support, and ice has a bit support in merc skills. Ice also brings slow, which is a necessity. Fire is there just as a backup, something i just wasted my points on when i had too many, but it's rarely used.

Werewolfs are used mainly in Tier 4 to tank the masive hordes that come to us on certain levels. No use to put points in them much before fourth tier. Also lightning towers are ok for armored enemies, i just haven't used them really until Tier 4, where they're really needed. You don't have that much time to deal with enemies yourself anymore.


In addition the basic attack i'm using (passive skill is within brackets):
Ghastly shape (Ethereal blast)
Trap boost (Duration)
Touch of death (Lingering curse)
Chain snare (barbed hooks)
Bash (Crippling bash)

Chain snare and Ghastly shape when upgraded to explode on contact is an awesome combo. Chain on it's own is really useful also, you can hold mobs in place with it, take them away from the gate or towards another trap etc. It also does nice damage to many enemies at once, so it's useful as an "extra" strike also.

Bash is useful on tier 3 and 4, so don't put points on it too much before. Upgrade your other attacks/skills until then. Chain snare and barbed hooks are the most important attack skill to upgrade!


Mark of the north (Ice vulnerability for all)
Mark of the slayer (physical vulnerability for all)
Iron skin (All resistances up)
Mark of the craftsman (Traps build cost down)
Fury (More damage after killing a monster)


Health regeneration and rage accumulation


- Learn to move enemies around with your chain. Especially useful with armored enemies when you need to be somewhere else and they're getting out of trap range. Glacier golems... You'll notice at 3rd tier level 12 what i'm talking about.

-Hop between teleports to deal quick strikes every now and then. This might seem to be useless. but most enemies stop moving forward, giving your towers a shot or two more + your damage. When combined with chain and ethereal blast, that's a decent amount of damage in less than a second to a whole mob. Very useful in the hectic stages and may save your completion stars.

- If you want to play it safe, check the wave info before every wave and make adjustments to traps as needed.

-DO NOT SELL YOUR LOOT! Instead break it as crafting materials. You'll need lot of it after you start getting godlike gear.

Tier I is really a no-brainer. A good one to learn the mechanics and get used to the traps and different enemies.







Set up the traps on the middle. Just wait there and finish the monsters once they step on the acid geyser so they're more vulnerable to physical damage. The combined damage from your turrets and weapon will finish everyone quick. When the next routes open up, there's a clear place for a trap cluster setup. Return to the center and kill off whoever survives that far. Don't put too many traps so you can unlock the essence trap right away. Easy to do on this level, and then it's done anyway.





Set up the center cluster, hit action and wait by the Acid geyser (or go and kill few of them yourself). During second wave Acid and guns will be enough.
You got only 3 waves, so remember to take the neutral enemies to their doom! Run between the chokepoints to eliminate enemies whenever necessary.
There's a certain catch on the boss. He jams traps, so kill the adds but DO NOT ATTACK THE BOSS BY YOURSELF. When he reaches the guns, hit touch of death and boost the other gun. If you attack, he conjures three shielding orbs to protect him. Not hard to destroy them, but unneccessary.




The first cluster can be found near the northernmost gate. Setup Acid Geysers and guns, find a teleport and teleport yourself to right edge of the map. When you have reached the big dude, hit action and kill him quick! Hit TOD and slam into him in between strikes.
There's two reasons for this rush: You have to be back for fast monsters and his spike wall attack really hurts.

Second wave opens up a gate that won't have much defence, that gate is a priority in this level. Whenever theres dudes coming out, be there! The other gates that open on the later waves have good defences and the summon slot that tanks and holds them for a while. If you've put your research points into gun tower damage, everything will die.

There's the chest keys to be acquired, one from the big dude, and one from the wolves on the opposite end of the map.

The boss goes to your first cluster. Hit TOD and trap boos when he's at the scene. He goes down fast. Make sure the little birdies wont escape.



In this level, you should build from in to out. Since the towers on the central platform shoot out to the sides, fortify the central. Later when enemies start reaching the center, start adding acid geyser and ice traps to slow them. The two gates that open near the intersection are priority!
You have plenty of time to stop mobs at turret's range to make them go down faster. Just keep a close eye on the map and the two sidegates. Rock golems/armored units shuold be stopped on top of Acid geysers for swift justice.

Boss freezes your towers, so just follow him around from the central, and free your towers when needed. Once he reaches the intersection, attack him and finish the level.



Set up some traps in the center, and the two turrets to the sides. Since they spawn enemies as well on this wave, those turrets will fire both ways. Once you have more essence, strengthen the side routes after/near the stairs, those gates open later and you will have to do it anyway.

You have to kill the boss two times actually, first he loses his wings and then he starts walking. He comes from the center and takes the left stairs so strenghen everything in that ruote before the boss. He is suprisingly quick, so save your Touch of death and trap boost skill for him!



There's massive amount of gun coverage on this map, which is exaclty what we need for the bosses. But first things first! Set up guns all around the central platform and lure ragnar to the teleport area. Start saving for the salvage recyclers after the basic defence.

Go in front of the stairs to welcome any monster who survived the turret fire.

After the salvage recyclers are up and running start adding defences equally everywhere. In theory you can get your essence up to 9999 on this level: Let one pale gentleman live, after his at an area where there isn't a trap, aggro him, let him start firing his bolt at you, dodge it (but stay at range) and repeat as long as you want. You can see this on video at around 12:00 minutes.

Boss consist of 4 big dudes, who summon their minions pretty often through a gate, and during summoning their own shield goes down. Destroiyng the gate stops the spawning, but it will stop after a few enemies have come from it also. If you've set your defenses right, only boss you have to worry about it the one from rightmost gate. He also spawns armors, so concentrate on him when he comes.



The reason i put lava grills there instead of icicle fields (that wuold have been the most logical thing to put there) to slow dudes down is because i thought to unlock the Phoenix pillar which requires certain amount of enemies to be ignited. It's easy on this level to acquire. You just need the upgrade for it to ignite.

The central cluster is your main damage. Rightmost gate spawns mostly only armor dudes so trap it accordingly, and eventually the boss. Which is FAST and FLYING (he won't stop for long no matter what), so when you hear that the boss is coming, be there to deal out some justice right away. This is the first boss so far that is a bit tricky and there's a risk of him escaping.

Two lower gates don't require much defence, concentrate your defences on the central and the "boss gate". Couple towers near those lower gates and you there personally will be just fine.



This map looks intimidating, but is actually one of the easiest maps in the game. Set up the highest platform correctly and you have plenty of time to run between them, killing anyone that comes. Some things to keep an eye on still:
- Little spiders. They're fast, and they won't stop, they're priority targets.
- Watch out decontaminators, a group of them does big damage. but they can be moved around with the chain, as can the mechanus's who are a bit tough to kill. Stopping them on top of acid geyser is the most efficient way.



Set up traps equally on the center. Teleports are off limits on this one, so damage needs to be constant. Don't worry about upgrading everything to fullest. Running spiders are here again, so keep a lookout. Dirigiblusa's won't stop either for long and they're pretty durable at this point for your towers to handle on their own. Intercept them asap. Don't be afraid to slam and chain them if needed.

When the lower gate opens, spread damage equally again for both gates, and upgrade later. Now you just have to run around till then between top and bottom. Spend most of your time near center, for quick access to everywhere. If you see a slow moving loner on the map, it's likely a dirigiblusa, go to it!

Boss comes from the upper part and is not going to be a problem.

Make the first chokepoints near the teleports. You're going to hop back and forth. Do the sidequest quickly and teleport to intercept the first enemies on the acid geyser for added physical damage. Right chokepoint with the spring trap and phoenix pillar is there because there wasn't a place for a turret, so next best thing is fire vulnerability and fire tower! Spring trap also slows the normal enemies since they're flying all around the place.

Next chokepoint is the platform before the gate, left side. On right, it's right at the stairs. After those are strong, spread damage here and there. Boss comes from the right, lowest platform and is pretty much a normal Behemoth. Easy to kill.




This is where you really need those razor launchers. Other damage won't touch armored enemies much otherwise, but don't still overdo them! Boss/other giant enemies pose a threat, and they don't really mind about razor launcher at all. Since we can't upgrade, this whole map is built full pretty soon. Slow them at every possible place, try to intercept the coming mobs at acid geyser/icicle fields whenever you can and damage them all at the same time. Time is the essence here, so to speak.

White woblers are a new enemy, they're tough, can knock you down and when killed, they release fast birds. So when you see a white wobler is dying, position yourself so that you can chain the birds immediately. They're giants by type so try to intercept them at gun sentries or at frost pillars for that extra damage.



Spread damage equally between the gates and chokepoints. But no whirlwind blades yet, they cost too much atm.
Teleport yourself to the rightmost gate and wait till the big monster comes, then chain all the little spiders so that your frost pillar begins damaging the big one right away. These monsters summon those little spiders, which can really cause trouble by numbers. They take your towers attention, letting the big one just walk forward, and they're fast. The faster you can finish the big ones, the easier this map becomes. You can see a pretty tight spot at 7.30 minutes :D That is what happens in an almost worst-case scenario.

Other problem are the armored mechanus's. They take a lot of time to kill, and you don't have the essence to spend on purely armor-damage. So chain them together and hit them as a group. Preferably on an acid geyser.

From wave 2 start adding the whirlwind blades since basic defence is now up. Look at the map and when you see a huge mob is on the whirlwind blade, hit Touch of Death if it's available. The lower gates don't spawn much monsters, so don't waste too much money on their defences. Keep the pressure at the main gates and handle the lower ones mostly yourself.



OK! THIS IS IT! The heart of all evil. Essence traps help out a lot, put them at right positions and try to kill as much dudes as possible on those. Even pull them from different lanes if possible. It's always more essence. Put Poison on regular intervalls so you can keep the damage going and their physical resistance down. Even though we need a lot of essence, it's not a priority. Watch the minimap closely and be ready to move around the second it seems like you need to. Preferably couple seconds sooner. Start your waves at the essence traps.

Right corner has the weakest frontline and pretty low spawn amount also. Since you're there anyway because of low defence, use your essence on other parts and defend that manually when needed. It's better to have one weak point and 3 strong ones. then two weak points and 2 decently defended.
Boss will eventually come from the and progress the main route so that needs to be the strongest. When you killt he boss, everyone else will die also, so concentrate on him!

Tier 2 takes things up a notch, but not a big one. Little more running around from point a to point b, and not so much relying only on traps anymore.



Set up the main chokepoint. I chose turret instead of razor launcher even though we have some armored people coming. They're not a threat yet. Giants do a lot more damage than armors. Plus armos can be moved around with the chain, giants can't. Spread out traps equally. There's nothing special coming on this map.



Now this looks like it's going be a massive carnage! And it is just that! Wait till you see all the blood and stuff.

Set up the first whirlwind blades next to acid geysers, and upgrade the physical vulnerability. It's sometimes quite hard to see what's going on :D But try to keep the enemies grouped up, use your chain without mercy to keep them together on the blades. the teleporting ones might cause trouble if you're having a "bad luck" day, but they're pretty fast to go down.

The routes change a bit on other waves, but nothing drastic. Keep a tight look at the left route, since now they can go straight and might get away. Pull them to you to meet the blades.

Two bosses, take out the giant first who comes from the left. You can move the other one around, so pull him to the two blades + acid geyser for quick kill.



The first chokepoint is at the same place as last time. You can kill Lumbering beast at his lair, or lure him and all the others to the towers, just keep an eye on the minimap. You have plenty of time.

Rightmost gate is a bit more secure than last time with the archers (after most of them have spawned), they make quick work on on normal and horde enemies. So keep an eye on it still. On 3rd wave, you'll get a lot of armors on multiple locations. So it's a bit hectic, but it's fun! White woblers come from the center and they require your attention.

Boss is Forest demon, again watch out for his small bird spawns.



This map is always the same, always fortify the central platform first. If you got any leftover essence when it's strong and tight, then start adding other traps here and there.

Stay in the central platform to intercept any monsters who come. Chaining when you want from the sides to make the traps work easier. This is a very straightforward level.



Set up the essence trap and kill as many dudes as possible near it. You have plenty of time to collect on the first wave. Second wave opens up the side portal, there's quite a lot of defenses there but don't put too much. Some of them walk through the central platform to the other side, giving you plenty of time to deal with everyone. Boss is also super easy, since you can move him around, and he don't even move fast!



First waves are easily intercepted, and most enemies are killed with your chain. So there's a good use for essence trap! Because of this, wait couple waves before going to Ragnar. Stock up on essence on the first two waves.
Flyers would be wise to slow down with frost pillars when you can't be near their route anymore. Gun coverage is again pretty great like the last time in this map. That makes our life a lot easier since we're a merc.



This one has a fun and interesting sidequest! After starting the wave, just in case use the arrow keys to move around. You can tank a lot of damage, so stop the mobs at crossfire places. Everything is simple until the lower side gate opens. That is your priority. Especially since you don't have much defenses there yet when it first opens. Eventually you should aim (pun) to have many archer posts there.

Take the extra essence with the essence trap again on the first wave.

If you set up your traps like in the video, this is easy peasy. Archers do massive damage, especially after acid geysers



This level, like the fourth one, bottomless pit is pretty much the same on every tier, except third one. Don't waste essence on the grinders at the start. Put the basics in order first. Again, watch the spiders, other than that, you have plenty of time to jump between teleports and finish enemies on your own.

Archers are pretty useless, and they're just mainly cannon fodder for fun :D This is an easy level.



Here we are again! This time not with any restrictions to teleport. Guns are the main defence on the upper part, so make sure you got acid geyser's there as well. Part of monsters from lower gate take a trip through the central walkway again for some reason, but some go directly towards the gate. so focus on those traps first.
Don't waste your money on the metamorph towers, they're not needed. Whenever you see a slow moving loner, that's most likely a dirigiblusa again, so go there!



Salvage recyclers! a.k.a money machine. Spend all your essence on them, and i mean it, no other traps before every money machine is built.Try to built one as fast as you can when you have enough money. It always comes back quicker and quicker. You can survive on your own perfectly until they all have been built.



This level is very self-explanatory. Just fill the clusters with the same strategy that we've done in previous levels. Make sure to build the service stations first.



We still have memories of the little spiders from tier 1 fresh in our mind. On this one, they're even worse! Fortify the two upper clusters, be sure to leave a bit essence behind, you'll need a few uses of the poison rain on the first wave. Don't concern yourself with the little spiders much. Kill their sources the tripod crawlers.

After the first wave, things get way easier, our clusters are getting stronger. You still need to help out the towers by chainin the little spiders to their death, so your towers can focus on the real enemies. That's quickly done since the chain is one-hit kill for them.

Things start to get progressively easier wave after wave. fortify your clusters, and if you want to be sure, leave a little in the tank for those winds of death.



Essence traps are useful here in the first waves, where you'll have plenty of time to collect some extra money. Heat ray sentries are really useful, try to make sure again that they're targeting the right enemy by chaining all the little ones, especially in the later waves they can potentially save the whole level by targeting the big ones, and not 10 little ones in a row while the big ones just keep on walking :D

Pull dudes from other lane to essence traps if needed to get a few extra dollars, try to get every heat ray sentry operational and leave the summons for last. We'll need a lot of constant damage on the last waves, and summons die, so that's not a constant damage

The last wave, that is going to be a bit hectic. When the wave starts, attack to the first enemies at the gate, pummel them as much as you can and then retreat to the final line of defense. This is because you can get quickly to every entry point to the platform if needed, opposed to if you were in the middle of a mob in the lower platform.

Here we are starting to have a bit more difficult levels. Your own damage starts to become more important than the damage from your traps.



Set up the main chokepoint at the beginning. Archers do great damage if you're standing in between them, and recently acid geysered enemies. Spend most of your time at the center. No use wandering too far on some route since the gates pour out enemies pretty evenly.

Center and right route bring in the most enemies to get the sidequest done with.


There has been some kind of confusion with the videos it seems and these ones are missing for some reason. I don't know what has happened. Thankfully they aren't hard levels.

Put skillpoints in bash!




Same as twice before, fortify the central. The enemies come in problematic formation. Behemoths casts shield, and decontaminators hurt a lot, so you need to be agile in here. TOD + chain kills decontaminators quick, but also makes Behemoths cast a shield, and all decontaminators not dead, also get the shield. After that happens, try to separate the Behemoths. It's also important to kill as many decontaminators as possible so your guns can attack Behemoths all the time. Attack from behind and from middle. At the same time, keep a close eye on the minimap, flying monsters are dangerous since you don't yet have strong traps. Thankfully Behemoths are slow.

Second wave opens more routes for the flyers, so keep fortifying the central. Spend most of your time near the gate. Inkwraiths start also coming at the end of the second wave, their spawns can cause problems if there's too many of them taking the attention of your traps. Pistonbeasts come at wave III. They can take a lot of beating at this point of the game, try to finish them asap. when your guns are strong, add acid geysers on their range near the stairs. Your traps shuold be pretty strong on final wave.



We have a lot of routes open right at the start, so build "inside out". This is also a very straightforward level.



Biggest problem in here are the suicide shrieks, they don't do a lot of damage to you, but they kill your archers very quick. They do have a pretty good upside though. Essence traps next to archers, and you get double essence from the shrieks, and they are plenty! Whenever you can, try to lure them to you, your summons stay alive to damage the other enemies.

Gun sentries do a a good AOE so build them before other traps. The sheer amount of suicide shrieks might seem a bit intimidating at first, but since their main target is something else than your gate, they're not too dangerous. Spend your time near your archers and this level is over quick.



Since were a merc, this sidequest is pretty much tailored to us. Activate the 3 golems before first wave, and remember to put the healing towers in place as well, the special traps. Golems are practically immortal with them. Your main priority are the giants. Every else enemy can be moved around with the chain again. Add traps on the middle whenever possible. This feels like a really long level since champions take their time to go down. It's not hard, just, long.



This is a bit different than the last two times we've done this. We'll stay in the middle for the most part of the level. Flyers kill archers fast, but at least they damage the flyers, as opposed to werewolfs who are melee. Chain the flyers when ever possible. When the mobs start coming stand in between them and your second set of archers for a huge damage.

There are two things to watch out for in this level:

Pale maestro champions which freeze you, and the flyers whose route goes straight from the gate to the core. Opens at wave 3. Also build towers near those gates for that extra damage. After those and central path is secure, you can build more around the map, or not. Central will hold.



Teleport restriction again! And did i see salvage recyclers? Whenever you see them, that means the first wave is going to be easy (and this time is not an exception), so use all your essence on them, except the one lone turret to give a little backup. Start from the lowest ones so you can quickly build the upper ones in the midst of combat to keep the money rolling in. Teleporting dudes might pose a problem if you're having a bad luck, so don't wait too much with the chain of death. Most recyclers should be built on the first wave.

Since our money went on the recyclers, second wave is a bit hectic at first. You'll soon have more than enough money and rest of the level is child's play.



Giants! I'll go with archers again, but werewofls work as a tanking force just as well here. Left side is more dangerous, since dirigiblusas don't stop, and freeze your turrets. So go there whenever needed, at the end of wave 1, a patch of dirigiblusas come from the right. TOD, Chain and bash them. Don't waste money on the chicken towers.

Second wave brings shielded tripod chargers, luckily no spawning little spiders this time. Left side is again the spawning ground of dirigiblusas that need your attention. End of the second wave can be a bit tricky, save TOD for that.

Third wave brings Behemoths from the northmost gates. DON'T ATTACK THEM YOURSELF BEFORE ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. let the guns take them, they won't cast a shield on themselfs unless you personally attack. Massive damage platform (just named it that) at the northeast takes care pretty much anyone who comes from the northeast gate, so support left side yourself.



The big amount of enemies on this map consist of hordes, which are easily one-hittable with your chain. So don't be intimidated, this is pretty easy level in the end.

We'll use the "inside out" building style again. If you need extra time, use werewolfs instead of archers. But it's more fun with archers ;) Start expanding after the first wave with the same mindset. Third wave opens up the lower side gates, put turrets in the middle to cut down the mobs there. If you want, you can add the whirlwind blades next to them, or intercept them yourself for a more challenging variation. on 4th and 5th level, they make your life a lot easier.



Oh boy, the glacier golems. Be extra careful with them, move them around whenever needed, and even sometimes when not needed. Slowing traps at every point and heat rays help a lot in dealing with them!
Don't take any changes. They're the biggest trouble in this level. Everything else is really simple and nothing special to mention.



This level can be problematic, my golems bugged a bit so that made things needlessly hectic at times.

Build the central platform first, then the sidegate platforms and activate golems in there. Leave the central golem in ice. Your golems can't handle the mobs fully, so tp yourself to wherever needed. Use the "inside out" building tactic again here, strengthening equally as much as possible whenever possible. There's a good amount of armortypes coming, it's your choice if you want to add more corresponding trap types.

Set up the slowing traps and whirlwind blades. This is an easy one again, just run around the entry points wherever needed.



Set up werewolfs to the right, winter queens behind them. Left side, gun sentries all the way! Intercept most of the enemies since you need kills for the sidequests. In the end, this is a very straighforward level again.



This is a bit tricky one with our current build. Respec into lightning tower. Two whirlwind towers can keep the monsters under control at the right gate. Upper gates: Right gate brings giants, left armored dudes (among others). So lightning towers from the left to the right, and frost pillars near the left side. You don't have time to deal with the armors yourself on this level. Keep in mind the giants from the "whirlwind gate" on the second wave. After them, get back to the upper gates. Rusalka hordes coming, don't save your chain, use it as much as necessary.

Third wave opens up a new portal, dispatch the first patch of lesoviks a.s.a.p and run to the upper left gate to intercept the giants. Keep an eye on the minimap, when the lesovik horde reaches the teleporter near the intersection, teleport there and finish them fast again. You have to intercept the other routes soon, this is hard spot! Keep a close eye on the minimap, and move whenever necessary.

Fourth wave closes the latest portal but opens up a new one to a place where you can't build any traps! How cool is that? That gate is the priority in here. It's thankfully pretty easy, and the rest of the level is simple compared to last wave.